1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate provided with part of a system for the non-contact identification of articles.
2. Discussion of the Invention
In order to locate and identify articles, it is known to associate them with electronic devices called xe2x80x9celectronic tagsxe2x80x9d.
Such a tag is provided with an electromagnetic-wave transmission and reception device coupled with an electronic module making it possible to process received signals and to retransmit other signals, especially including a message for identifying the tag, and therefore the article with which it is associated. Moreover, the system includes a reader comprising an electromagnetic-wave transmission/reception device so as to transmit the information between a data terminal and the said electronic tag.
The reader fulfils several functions and especially serves to:
transmit to the tag the energy needed for its operation, the tag having no specific autonomous energy source;
transmit data from the terminal to the tag, this data being, where appropriate, able to be written into a memory with which the tag is provided;
receive data from the tag and specific to the latter, in particular for the purpose of identifying it.
Until quite recently, it was satisfactory in most applications, for which an electronic tag of the abovementioned type was designed, to be able to read simultaneously a limited number (less than 10) tags in the interrogation field.
Furthermore, the intended applications were the control of access to an area, the monitoring of the access by persons or baggage to an area, the counting of articles, especially for stock management, in a plant or industrial area or else the recognition of passing objects, such as, for example, cars at a motorway tollbooth.
To meet particular applications, in which a large number of tags have to be read reliably, simultaneously and quickly, and data transmission must be possible either tag by tag or for the entire set of tags, improvements to the said tags have been made.
Such an improvement is described, for example, in French Patents FR 2,741,978, FR 2,741,979 and FR 2,741,980. By virtue of this improvement, it is possible from now on to meet the aforementioned requirements for a lower cost, the set of tags possibly being spread out within a large volume, of the order of several m3.
Thus, for example, the monitoring, accounting and/or verification of articles purchased by a customer in a department store are now possible. The management of a storage area or of transport logistics is also possible.
Moreover, this functional improvement to electronic tags, which allows them to be tailored to very particular applications, has advantageously been accompanied by a dimensional improvement.
This is because some tags have been miniaturized significantly so that from now on they have a thickness of less than one millimetre for a maximum width of about two centimetres.
Such miniaturization obviously poses a problem of how to fasten a tag of the abovementioned type to the article that can be located and/or identified by means of such a tag.
The objective of the invention is therefore to solve the problem posed and especially to propose a novel way of packaging an electronic device having the characteristics of the abovementioned electronic tag, which can be easily fastened to an article, whatever the shape and purpose of the latter.
This objective is achieved by virtue of a substrate provided with at least part of a system for the non-contact identification of articles, comprising at least one electronic device which includes an electromagnetic-wave transmission and reception device coupled with an electronic module making it possible to process received signals and to retransmit other signals, characterized in that it is based on cellulose fibers and in that the electronic device is inserted into the said substrate.
The expression xe2x80x9cinserted into the substratexe2x80x9d should be understood to mean here, and in the rest of the text, introduced into the substrate so as to be incorporated therein.
Thus, depending on the various shapes of the substrate based on cellulose fibers, the electronic device may, within the scope of the invention, either be embedded in the substrate, that is to say held within its thickness, or be inserted inside it.
Apart from the fact that the solution according to the invention solves the problem posed perfectly, it extremely advantageously provides a substrate which can be entirely and easily recycled.
Moreover, the electromagnetic waves transmitted and received by the electronic device are in no way disturbed by the substrate according to the invention, whatever their operating frequency range.
The combination of the electronic device and of the cellulose substrate according to the invention may constitute in itself both a product and a way of packaging the electronic device. Owing to the nature of the substrate, this may be easily incorporated, linked to any article that it is desired to tag and/or locate.
This packaging may be regarded both as a means of carrying the electronic device and of protecting the latter.
Advantageously, the electromagnetic-wave transmission and reception device according to the invention furthermore comprises an antenna, preferably of the type including a coil.
Such a configuration allows great flexibility in the choice of interrogation station or frameway that can be used as data reader and as a transmitter for sending data to the electronic device according to the invention.
Thus, depending on the given orientations of the coil in the latter, the interrogation station may include a uniaxial, biaxial or triaxial inductor.
According to a first embodiment of the substrate according to the invention, the cellulose fibers of the substrate are in the form of at least one layer in which the electronic device is embedded.
Very advantageously, the specific volume of the layer is between 1 and 10 cm3/g.
It should be pointed out that within the context of the invention, the term xe2x80x9cspecific volumexe2x80x9d should be understood to mean the ratio of the thickness of the layer to its grammage.
By falling within such a range, the electronic device is not only inserted into the layer according to the invention but, in addition, is made invisible to the naked eye.
What is more, when it is completely embedded in the layer, that is to say none of its faces emerges from the layer, the electronic device according to the invention is even better protected mechanically. In other words, its durability is correspondingly increased.
According to this same embodiment, the layer may have several forms. Firstly, it may comprise at least one sheet of paper or of board.
It may also comprise a mat of moulded cellulose. Finally, it may comprise a flat board having at least two sheets.
According to a second embodiment, the substrate according to the invention comprises at least one solid board. This may comprise two sheets of paper pasted together and between which the electronic device is inserted. It may also comprise a sheet of cellulose fibers which is wound up on itself and inside which the said electronic device is inserted. This solid board may, for example, be rolled up in the form of a tube.
According to a third, preferred embodiment, the substrate according to the invention comprises at least one corrugated board having at least one flute and at least one double-face liner, which are pasted together and between which the electronic device is inserted.
According to an additional characteristic, the substrate based on cellulose fibers has an overall stiffness of at least 5 mN.m.
This is because the stiffness is the degree of resistance offered by the substrate based on cellulose fibres when it is bent under specific conditions. In particular, when the substrate according to the invention is in the form of a board, the stiffness is one of the important characteristics as regards the use made of the said board.
Thus, giving the substrate based on cellulose fibres a minimum stiffness as defined above amounts to guaranteeing, assuredly, the xe2x80x9cphysicalxe2x80x9d integrity of the electronic device when this same substrate is subjected to particular stresses specific to the intended final application, which stresses may, for example, be associated with stacking if the substrate according to the invention, made of board, is a package in the form of a box or a case.
The invention also relates to a package comprising a substrate as defined above. This package may be parallelepipedal and/or have one or more curved walls or be of any other shape substantially matching the shape of the packaged product.
In particular, it may be a package made of corrugated board obtained according to the process described in French Patent Application FR 97/05558 filed on May 6, 1997.
Finally, the subject of the invention is a process for obtaining a substrate provided with at least part of a system for the non-contact identification of articles, comprising at least one electronic device which includes an electromagnetic-wave transmission and reception device coupled with an electronic module making it possible to process received signals and to retransmit other signals, in which process the following steps are carried out concomitantly:
a) a substrate based on cellulose fibres is manufactured;
b) the said electronic device is inserted into the substrate.
Such a process is highly advantageous from the industrial standpoint since it requires no special industrial adaptation.
This is because the step of inserting the electronic device according to the invention is carried out continuously and is entirely incorporated into existing processes for manufacturing substrates based on cellulose fibres, whether they are essentially in the form of paper or of board.
In order to carry out the insertion step, several methods of implementation may be envisaged depending on the final shape that it is desired to give the substrate.
According to a first method of implementation, the insertion is carried out in the wet end of a paper or board machine.
According to this same method of implementation, the insertion may alternatively be envisaged.
in a liquid stock of cellulose fibres, in a zone in which the moisture content is between 80 and 95%;
during the marriage of two liquid plies of cellulose fibres, preferably in a zone in which the moisture content is between 50 and 70%;
into a sheet of cellulose fibres when the latter is being wound up on itself, preferably in a zone in which the moisture content is between 5 and 10%.
According to other methods of implementation, it is also possible to insert the electronic device between two sheets so as to produce a xe2x80x9csandwichxe2x80x9d.
Thus, the insertion between two sheets of paper may be carried out immediately before they are pasted together, preferably in a zone in which the moisture content is between 5 and 10%.
In addition, when it is desired to obtain a corrugated board, the insertion between a single-face ply having a flute and a double-face liner may be carried out immediately before they are pasted together.
Finally, when it is desired to obtain a case made of corrugated board, the insertion between two sheets of corrugated board may be carried out in a zone in which two parts of a case tab are consolidated.
The invention is capable of numerous and varied applications. It may be used for tagging and/or locating articles such as books, clothes, records, food products, industrial products, electronic equipment, rolls or mandrels for supporting sheet, etc.
It may also be used for identifying goods and services, such as credit cards, telephone cards or tickets for road, sea or air transport.
It may also be used in techniques for detecting the counterfeiting of articles, more particularly luxury articles, such as clothes, etc.
Finally, it may be used in techniques for communicating, by transmission, information contained in the electronic device according to the invention to display screens, for example for advertising purposes.